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Text -- Proverbs 26:1-26 (NET)
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Context
26:1 Like snow in summer or rain in harvest , so honor is not fitting for a fool .
26:2 Like a fluttering bird or like a flying swallow , so a curse without cause does not come to rest.
26:3 A whip for the horse and a bridle for the donkey , and a rod for the backs of fools !
26:4 Do not answer a fool according to his folly , lest you yourself also be like him.
26:5 Answer a fool according to his folly , lest he be wise in his own estimation .
26:6 Like cutting off the feet or drinking violence , so is sending a message by the hand of a fool .
26:7 Like legs that hang limp from the lame , so is a proverb in the mouth of fools .
26:8 Like tying a stone in a sling , so is giving honor to a fool .
26:9 Like a thorn that goes into the hand of a drunkard , so is a proverb in the mouth of a fool .
26:10 Like an archer who wounds at random , so is the one who hires a fool or hires any passer-by .
26:11 Like a dog that returns to its vomit , so a fool repeats his folly .
26:12 Do you see a man wise in his own eyes ? There is more hope for a fool than for him.
26:13 The sluggard says , “There is a lion in the road ! A lion in the streets !”
26:14 Like a door that turns on its hinges , so a sluggard turns on his bed .
26:15 The sluggard plunges his hand in the dish ; he is too lazy to bring it back to his mouth .
26:16 The sluggard is wiser in his own estimation than seven people who respond with good sense .
26:17 Like one who grabs a wild dog by the ears , so is the person passing by who becomes furious over a quarrel not his own.
26:18 Like a madman who shoots firebrands and deadly arrows ,
26:19 so is a person who deceives his neighbor , and says , “Was I not only joking ?”
26:20 Where there is no wood , a fire goes out, and where there is no gossip , contention ceases .
26:21 Like charcoal is to burning coals , and wood to fire , so is a contentious person to kindle strife .
26:22 The words of a gossip are like delicious morsels ; they go down into a person’s innermost being .
26:23 Like a coating of glaze over earthenware are fervent lips with an evil heart .
26:24 The one who hates others disguises it with his lips , but he stores up deceit within him.
26:25 When he speaks graciously , do not believe him, for there are seven abominations within him.
26:26 Though his hatred may be concealed by deceit , his evil will be uncovered in the assembly .
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Names, People and Places, Dictionary Themes and Topics
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expand allCommentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes
NET Notes -> Pro 26:1; Pro 26:1; Pro 26:2; Pro 26:2; Pro 26:2; Pro 26:3; Pro 26:4; Pro 26:4; Pro 26:5; Pro 26:5; Pro 26:6; Pro 26:6; Pro 26:6; Pro 26:7; Pro 26:7; Pro 26:7; Pro 26:8; Pro 26:8; Pro 26:9; Pro 26:9; Pro 26:10; Pro 26:10; Pro 26:11; Pro 26:11; Pro 26:12; Pro 26:12; Pro 26:12; Pro 26:12; Pro 26:13; Pro 26:13; Pro 26:14; Pro 26:14; Pro 26:14; Pro 26:15; Pro 26:15; Pro 26:16; Pro 26:16; Pro 26:17; Pro 26:17; Pro 26:17; Pro 26:18; Pro 26:18; Pro 26:19; Pro 26:19; Pro 26:20; Pro 26:20; Pro 26:21; Pro 26:21; Pro 26:22; Pro 26:23; Pro 26:23; Pro 26:23; Pro 26:24; Pro 26:24; Pro 26:24; Pro 26:24; Pro 26:25; Pro 26:25; Pro 26:25; Pro 26:25; Pro 26:25; Pro 26:26; Pro 26:26; Pro 26:26
NET Notes: Pro 26:1 The first twelve verses of this chapter, Prov 26:1-12, are sometimes called “the Book of Fools” because they deal with the actions of fool...
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NET Notes: Pro 26:2 The MT has the negative with the verb “to enter; to come” to mean “will not come” (לֹא תָב...
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NET Notes: Pro 26:3 A fool must be disciplined by force like an animal – there is no reasoning. The fool is as difficult to manage as the donkey or horse.
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NET Notes: Pro 26:4 The person who descends to the level of a fool to argue with him only looks like a fool as well.
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NET Notes: Pro 26:6 The consequence is given in the first line and the cause in the second. It would be better not to send a message at all than to use a fool as messenge...
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NET Notes: Pro 26:7 As C. H. Toy puts it, the fool is a “proverb-monger” (Proverbs [ICC], 474); he handles an aphorism about as well as a lame man can walk. T...
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NET Notes: Pro 26:8 The point is that only someone who does not know how a sling works would do such a stupid thing (R. N. Whybray, Proverbs [CBC], 152). So to honor a fo...
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NET Notes: Pro 26:9 A fool can read or speak a proverb but will be intellectually and spiritually unable to handle it; he will misapply it or misuse it in some way. In do...
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NET Notes: Pro 26:10 The participle שֹׂכֵר (shokher) is rendered here according to its normal meaning “hires” or “pay...
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NET Notes: Pro 26:11 The point is clear: Fools repeat their disgusting mistakes, or to put it another way, whenever we repeat our disgusting mistakes we are fools. The pro...
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NET Notes: Pro 26:12 Previous passages in the book of Proverbs all but deny the possibility of hope for the fool. So this proverb is saying there is absolutely no hope for...
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NET Notes: Pro 26:13 Heb “in the broad plazas”; NAB, NASB “in the square.” This proverb makes the same point as 22:13, namely, that the sluggard us...
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NET Notes: Pro 26:14 The term “turns” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation from the parallelism.
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NET Notes: Pro 26:15 The proverb is stating that the sluggard is too lazy to eat; this is essentially the same point made in 19:24 (see the note there).
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NET Notes: Pro 26:16 The term means “taste; judgment.” The related verb means “to taste; to perceive,” that is, “to examine by tasting,”...
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NET Notes: Pro 26:18 Heb “arrows and death” (so KJV, NASB). This expression can be understood as a nominal hendiadys: “deadly arrows” (so NAB, NIV)...
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NET Notes: Pro 26:19 The subject of this proverb is not simply a deceiver, but one who does so out of jest, or at least who claims he was joking afterward. The participle ...
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NET Notes: Pro 26:22 The proverb is essentially the same as 18:8; it observes how appealing gossip is.
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NET Notes: Pro 26:23 The analogy fits the second line very well. Glaze makes a vessel look beautiful and certainly different from the clay that it actually is. So is one w...
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NET Notes: Pro 26:24 Hypocritical words may hide a wicked heart. The proverb makes an observation: One who in reality despises other people will often disguise that with w...
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NET Notes: Pro 26:25 “Abomination” means something that is loathed. This is a description applied by the writer, for the hypocritical person would not refer to...
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